Frolicking Nutriment

Spring Forward

2013-03-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've never really enjoyed the time changes of Daylight Savings Time, so I thought I would try to make it a little cheery today.

I made the "spring" from cucumber peel. I tried several times to peel the cucumber so it would be curvy but I am not talented in the ways of peeling fruits and veggies... so my next try was to slice the cucumber as I normally would, then slice the peel off, in a circle, which worked much better. I wrapped the peel around one of my bento basket clothes pins to sit while I made the rest of the lunch. I cut the little leaves with scissors out of the peel scraps from when I was trying to peel the cucumber. Sliced grape tomatoes in half, arranged them on some fresh rice as a flower.

I hardly ever use my veggie cutter but today I found a big fat carrot and got to use my cutter to make a cute little inside to the flower, then I made a bunch of extras for my little one's lunch just for fun.

Dr Seuss' Birthday

2013-03-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

I love Dr Seuss so much, what an inspiring man.

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." ~Happy Birthday Dr Seuss!

Green Eggs and Ham. Deviled eggs, I put mustard and Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing, and some food based green coloring. Strawberry and bananas make a Cat in the Hat hat, red and white stripe apples, carrots and red peppers.

Grammar

2013-03-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Happy National Grammar Day!

Yes, I am not always the best writer ever, although I do enjoy expressing myself through writing at times. I still at times get confused with some rules, but grateful for some great websites out there!

Today, we have a semi-colon, a comma, and a colon for your grammar day needs.

Rice balls with nori, made with a regular hole punch and the eye of one of my face punches. Side of red peppers, carrots, kiwi, and some salami.

Valentines Day!

2013-02-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

So many days I am so ashamed of my frustration, anxiety and bad behavior and wonder if I will ever get better. And then I see how far we have come... My son wrote a lovely note to his teacher, sewed a valentine; I make lunches, and even a fruit tray for my daughter and class because she is allergic to everything. While it may seem standard mom stuff, I use to barely even be able to get out of bed. We are healing, we are moving forward, and I am so very grateful to those who love us unconditionally and have helped us gain strength.

I love Valentine's Day. It is just such a happily pink day that we get to make cute crafts and have fun parties in the classes. I dressed up today and was told by another mom I looked like a Valentine Fairy... where are my wings!

For my son's class I made these raw brownie bites, but I made them really thin and cut them with heart cutters, they were a hit in third grade!

Gluten free cupcakes with coconut milk and berry whipped topping "frosting" inside secret hearts!

Oh and of course the lunch! An inside out sandwich with heart shaped turkey, beef, and rice cheese. Side of cupcake, yellow peppers, cinnamon sugar apples, and tomatoes.

And for dinner, we have pasta, with a big turkey meatball heart. I made little gelatin hearts with pomegranate juice and knox gelatin.

Smitten Salad

2013-02-13T19:03:00.000-08:00

Heart Salad:

Heart shaped eggs, here's how.

Heart Tomatoes

Heart Carrots

Heart Cucumbers

Heart Strawberries on the side

Strawberry Jelly

2013-02-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

Teff Bread from New Cascadia Bakery , with a heart cut, showing the strawberry jelly. Heart pick, heart cut apples. Such a treat for the kids to get bread!

Some roses for you, my dear

2013-02-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

I love roses and pink. I'm such a girly girl and those things make me happy. After my grandmother passed away, I went to go live with my grandfather and there was so much pink and rose accents everywhere, I finally figured out where my love for pink and roses came from!

Bacon roses, linguini with beet juice, rice cheese hugs and kisses cut with the alphabet cutters. Heart carrots, tomatoes, cut apples, and a tangerine.

Gung Hay Fat Choy.

2013-02-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Snake!

To start us off for the day, a kiwi snake:

Midday olive snake snack:

Snake pancakes for dinner:

I Heart You

2013-02-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Hearts made with rice and beet juice, faces with nori and the face punches.

You are beautiful

2013-02-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hot Dog Hearts

Love Birds

2013-02-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

These were so much fun! Hard boiled egg love birds on a bed of mixed rice with broccoli... Nori eyes with the face punch, carrot beaks and wings. Heart carrots, cut apples, cashews, green peppers as sides.

Hearts

2013-02-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, my mom always had me make the green salads for dinner. I could never make them plain and boring, just chopping up the carrots like a normal person. I made them into shapes, my favorite was always hearts.

February, a new beginning

2013-02-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've done any playful food. There are times in my life I think the next stop will be the psych ward. I cease creative activities and cite my ever growing stress and frustration as the reason to stop doing what I love. Then, I realize... I'm stressed, I *have* to go back to doing what I love~ pouring creativity into our world. Happy February.

Rice with turkey bacon heart, with sides of cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, raisins, hearts and apples.

Sesame Street

2012-11-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

Sesame Street premiered on PBS November 10, 1969.

Here's to Elmo and all of our friends, that we grew up with, new and old.

Tomato sauce and rice, corn tortilla and nori eyes, mustard nose and a nori mouth.

Halloween

2012-10-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween lunches for the week:

Ghost eggs. Nori punched with regular hole punch and hand cut mouth, on a bed of greens, with rice cheese cut with my letter cutters. We dried the apple mouth with some cashew pieces. Whole Foods had these awesome ghost potato crisps! They were so yummy and so much fun! I drew a jack-o-lantern face on their cuties.

My little one, who is allergic to eggs, got a mashed potato ghost:

The hot dog fingers are always a hit! So gross though! I cut the hot dogs, then boil them in water and a bit of coconut aminos , added some slivered almonds as super gross fingernails!

Halloween Breakfast:

I tried to make some pancake ghosts... they didn't quite turn out as I had hoped, but they are certainly creepy!

A creepy pancake:

And some creepy eggs:

Dinner, which was supposed to be tentacle chicken pot pies in mason jars. I have not yet perfected the art of gluten, dairy, and egg free pie crust, so they were very difficult and frustrating to make, and I was so disappointed how they turned out, but, my kids were happy.

Spiderman

2012-09-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

My spidey senses are tingling!

I printed off a spiderman face and realized how much crazy work that would be to try to do it all with the lines and everything, so I just went with the eye lines. I feel like he is still definitely recognizable.

Self Portrait...

2012-09-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, I mean, Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman was always a favorite show of mine growing up. I remember my Aunt, my moms' sister, looked so much like Wonder Woman, she even had other children thinking she was! I knew some day I would catch her doing the twirl and saving the day!

And now, here I am, a single mom of three, making this all happen, I think I can call myself Wonder Woman, or, at least pretend some times.

Bed of white rice, pepper jack rice cheese body, turkey pepperoni top, "cheddar" rice cheese emblem and crown, nori hair.

National Comic Book Day

2012-09-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

Our favorite character of all~ Batman!

An interesting little quote for you:

"In his editorial, “A National Disgrace,” the literary critic publically assaulted the medium and accused parents of being “guilty of criminal negligence” for allowing their children to read comic books." ~Sterling North.

Read more cool comic book facts here.

Today's lunch is rice with a nori cut out of the Batman emblem.

Sides of fresh raspberries, baby carrots, some leftover peanuts and cashews, and some gluten free cookies that was a super special treat!

Superheros

2012-09-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

My son, like many other children, loves comic books and superheros. Tomorrow is National Comic Book day, so this week we are going to celebrate the superheros we enjoy.

Today is just kind of a generic super hero, maybe it's Robin from Batman, or maybe they are part of The Incredibles! Who do you think they are?

Brown rice crafted with rice molds, hand cut nori with eye holes punched with a regular hole punch, all on fresh spinach.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

2012-09-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Me sprogs love pirates and this has been such a fun day for us t' celebrate!

I love writin' li'l love notes t'em.

This lunch be made with a rice ball, nori, and rice cheese.

Ahoy, matey!

Some piratey smoothie for breaksmartly:

Fancy for a minute?

2012-09-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Chef Ron and his partner are always making beautiful, fancy fresh food from their garden and market. Today, I was inspired by them, trying to make something pretty with a fancy description. I will never be able to compete with them, but sometimes it's fun to give something different a little try.

Brown rice ball smothered in mint sauce on a bed of fresh spinach, garnished with a pecan and sliced baby carrots. On the side are seaweed squares, baby carrots, peanuts in the shell, and sliced oranges.

Rosh Hashanah

2012-09-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Shanah Tovah!

Rice with nori star and shofar, sliced carrots, raisins, apples ~ no honey, too messy!

Frolicking Fall Faces

2012-09-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

I love Portland in the fall! I am use to cold, windy Septembers, bundling up our homes and preparing for a long winter. And here we are enjoying the beautiful warm sun! We have been riding bikes to school in this lovely weather! I feel so great and the kids love it.

Rice smiley faces made with rice molds, and nori with the nori face punches. Included in the lunch are peanuts in the shell, cashews, dried mango and cut apples.

Rice and hot dog flowers

2012-09-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

I love my little rice molds, as they are easy and fast to use on days I am not feeling terribly creative. I also have the Fagor 3 in 1 cooker, so I can cook rice pretty quickly!

I cooked up some rice, added coconut oil and garlic salt and pressed them into the flower molds; sliced up some leftover Applegate Farms turkey dogs, and, tada! Quick, cute flowers that my kids gobbled up. Included in the lunch were fresh peaches, apples, raisins and almonds.

My youngest is allergic to rice, peaches, and grapes, so this was her alternative lunch with turkey dogs octopuses, pistachios, cashews, and apples.

Always Remember

2012-09-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

I was pregnant with my firstborn, taking a shower, getting ready to start my day when I was told of this news, and wondered what kind of world I would be bringing my child into.

Rice cooked with chicken broth, sliced hot dogs for the red stripes, and blueberries for the blue and stars, which was my son's idea. I used my number cutters and nori but had to cut around them with the exacto knife. Sides of raisins, apples, peanuts in the shell.